Bit by Bit

I know I'm an absolute shit about getting this bike going, but I've again made a bunch of life choices that have made it impossible to focus on the bike, BUT I'll getting back to it very soon.

I listed my house for sale, so the last 3 months have seen me working my ass off to get it all ready.  The good news is that over the next few weeks, I'll be out of the house while it shows, so I'll try to get stuff finished on the bike.

I just ordered the bit and tap for the head bolts, and it should get here in a few days.  Here's the info for posterity:

bolt 68-338: 5/16" x 4 1/8" BSF - bit 6.75mm (17/64") - tap 5/16-22
bolt 68-337: 3/8" x 4 1/8" BSF - bit 8.33mm (21/64") - tap 3/8-20

What we are doing is drilling out the smaller bolts (5/16) and replacing them with 3/8" all around for strength.  Then, we can put it all back together and I can relax.

Bring On The Spotlight

This weekend is the Indiana Motorcycle Expo, which is gearing up to be quite awesome.  In years past, I hadn't really heard my buddies give it much notice, but it seems that everyone is going to show up this year.  Maybe it's because this winter has been absurdly dismal, and there's been only a single non-gray day in months.  Maybe it's because the hosts upped their marketing budget.  Maybe it's just that there's nothing else going on that weekend.  Whatever the reason, I'm getting excited.

There's a few things that I'm REALLY stoked about - Norton is going to be there.  I've been drooling over the new Nortons for almost ten years, and haven't yet seen one in person.  At $25k for the bottom model, it's no wonder.  I'm still going to sit on one and pretend that I have unlimited disposable income, 'cause why not?

The international bikini team.  Bikes and boobs go together like pork chops and applesauce.

There's a great lecture about riding in the smokey mountains and the Tail of the Dragon, which is perfect for my ride in April.  That's actually a talk I could learn something from.  There's a couple other talks about early dealerships and the future of motorcycles on Sunday, which look to be interesting, too.

The vendor area is always interesting, and even though I've put together a hell of a decent kit for my bike trip, I might happen upon something fun that could be useful for my trip, like a solar powered seat warmer or fancy flashing brake lights.  I can't help but admit - I get excited about stupid gadgets.  I'm definitely in the market for a tank bag, however.  That's big sauce.

The big thing about the show for me, however, is the biker showcase.  This year it's all about vintage bikes, and even though the BSA isn't ready yet, the motor is pretty damn sexy, and Mark wound up getting in touch with one of the organizers to display his hill climber in the concourse.  Even better, is that we are bringing his Triumph motor and MY BSA motor, which will go on a big engine stand as part of the display.  How awesome is that?  There's supposedly going to be a little plaque with my name on it and all that stuff, but I'm 99% sure that it's all going to wind up being 1 little sign with Mark's name on it, and I'll probably have to pay for my own ticket to the show, but whatever.  To be fair, without Mark's guidance and patience and expertise, none of this would have happened, so even though it's my motor, and I physically did all the work and put in all the hours, I still feel that it's a "SwemBuilt" bike.  If I get a nod, all the better.  If a certain young lady who plans on being there sees it, and it makes her swoon a bit, that doesn't suck either.

All in all, I'm ready for a good weekend.

Super Awesome Boring Notes

No intro, just go:

Bolt sizes for top end:

• Rocker cover & carb intake: 1/4-26 Whitworth
• Inspection/points covers & boyer ignition: 10/32 SAE
• Barrel to Case nuts: 5/16-24 UNF

Bolt size for new center head bolt: 3/8 BSF (need tap)

Plan of action:

1. clean & paint exhaust for show
2. paint stand for show
3. go to show
4. check existing bag of taps & dies for 3/8 BSF (& order if needed)
5. disassemble motor, drill & tap case holes, reassemble motor
6. build an electrical board for the boyer and a fuel/oil feeder IV for testing
7. dial in ignition timing
8. connect electrical, add oil, start motor
9. take rolling frame to Mark's and install the engine CAREFULLY
10. connect up rear wheel and rig temporary (read: duct taped) solution to test if bike will roll.
11. start mocking up placement of seat, tank, battery, oil reservoir, and electricals

With my summer trip, it may come to pass that I'll only be capable of getting the rear wheel turning before I head out for a few months, but if everything comes to pass as planned, I'll ideally be back in Indy around the holidays and looking to crash for a while with family and friends.  I may rent-a-wreck and bribe Mark into letting me abuse his shop every day over the winter and learn to weld, creating a super-awesome frame and getting every last piece of the bike built, then torn apart and off to paint and stuff.

OR, if I can get in touch with Cliff Meyer, maybe I'll end up dropping the whole bike off with him for the summer, to fab the metalwork while I'm on tour.  That could work, too.

Anyway, it's smooth sailing from here, right?

Pretty Bird

The show is a week away, and I've still gotta clean and paint the exhaust, paint the display stand and do a final chamois shine to the case, but right now, I've finally gotten all of the nuts and bolts worked out and the motor buttoned up (at least, good enough for display).

After the show, Mark & I are going to have to take the top end back off the motor and drill out the center head bolt holes for the larger WW bolts.  It's not done right until you redo it three times, right?  Still, getting this far still feels like a major accomplishment.  Technically, if I was willing to do anything inferior to the bike, I could run it as it, since the bolts in it are actually stock.  However, they're a known weakness, and it's worth it to do things right, rather than watch it blow oil all over the place in 2 years time.

So, if anyone out there has a set of whithworth taps, hook a fella up.

When the King Speaks, You Listen.

Well, the news isn't great, but it could be worse.  Mark went out to Earl's place today and told him all about my issues with the head bolts.  Earl told him that it was pretty common for this type of crap to happen with these bikes, and in fact, the thin bolts that BSA used had a tendency to stretch over time, and the wise thing to do would be to pull the motor apart again, drill out the holes and tap them with the next size up bolt, which is thicker and sturdier, and less prone to distortion.

Ugh.  What a damn pain.  However, for now, I'm just going to button the motor up and get it all shiny for the show, then deal with all that crap next month.  Besides, we're going to have to track down the proper bolts anyway.  Again.  That's $30 down the drain.

The funny story is that after all the fuss that we've dealt with on my 500 motor, Mark told me that he's looking to get another one to work on with his son.  Some folks will never learn.  ;)

5/16" - 26

After 2 years of struggling with locating the proper head bolts, last night I had a eureka moment.  I was thrilled because I was finally able to procure the correct whithworth bolts that were always out of stock, but it seems that they're being newly re-manufactured again (at $15 each, yeesh!)  I dropped one in place and started to thread it when my heart sank.  It didn't fit.  Again.

I set the offenders aside to work on later, and put together the new carb instead.  When I came back to the head bolts, I decided to just try dropping one in again to start taking measurements.  All of a sudden, it went right in perfectly.  Weird.

I backed it out and tried putting it into the other hole, but with only a few turns, it jammed up and wouldn't thread.  I backed it out, and sure enough, the threads were jacked.  HOWEVER, this was a blessing in disguise.

What we deduced is that at some point, someone had re-tapped only one of the holes for the head bolts, leaving the other in its original shape.  When I tightened the ww bolt into position, I had turned it far enough and with just the right amount of vigor for the threads to reshape perfectly enough to show me exactly what bolt size I would need.  Turns out, it's just a regular ol' 50-cent 5/16"-26 bolt from the hardware store.

So, basically I've spent 2 years trying all sorts of expensive bolts to find out that my problems all stemmed from some shithead pulling a slack job in 1971.  Toothless bastard.

I picked up the new bolts (in every possible length, just in case) this morning, and should have them installed and delicious this weekend.

What else is new?  To start, I finally ordered my 626 Amal carb, and it's a beauty.  It went on without a hitch.  I mocked up the Boyer, and it seems to fit quite well, so I'm good to wire up the test board before long, and there's a chance we'll see this pig shoot some sparks in the near future.

Lowbrow customs totally rules, by the way.  They've been able to hook me up with tons of whithworth nuts and bolts and a lot of what I need for WAY less than the folks at the other brit spares shops.  I'm swimming in sexy new stainless allen cover bolts and acorn nuts.  They've also got a bunch of great standard stuff like cloth spark wires and old school niceties.

I picked up a pair of NGK B8ES spark plugs and will drop those in for the show, but definitely not going to put the sexy bakelite plug caps on 'em yet.

Oh yeah, the show!  On the 20th, Mark and I are going to show off his monster hill-climber, an old Triumph engine and my BSA motor and the big motorcycle expo at the fairgrounds.  (I'll be sure to take photos with my new camera!)  Mostly he chose to show off mine because my engine is so dang pretty, and will make all the boys jealous.  With the assumption that the new head bolt fits, here's what I'd like to get done before the show:

• sand blast the ugly chrome off the old finned rocker cover and do a quick polish
• polish the big side cover once I've gotten the new side bolts sorted.
• polish all the badges and inspection covers and install.
• mount boyer electronics to a wood panel for testing.
• get a battery and a switch for testing (or if I'm ghetto, steal the one from my Honda and just touch wires together.
• Oil.  Lots of oil.
• Mock up a fuel and oil feed system so I don't have to hook up the tanks to test the motor.

For now, I really don't give a squat about brakes, frame, forks, lights, etc.  It all about getting the motor running and dialed in.  Boo-yah!  

$240 Worth of Pudding

Not gonna elaborate too much because I'm tired, hungry, and just need to sleep, but just know that I'm back up on that horse, and the build goes on!  Bought some parts, rocked some socks, and as soon as the expensive-ass bolts get here, we're back in business, son.

Killer Hiatus

There's an old joke that goes, "Why is divorce so expensive?"  The punchline is, "because it's worth it."  Sometimes, life gets in the way of building a beautiful bike.  Things like keeping a roof over the garage tend to take up all the spending money, and it's simply not feasible to drop a couple g's on a pet project.  Of course, it didn't help much that I bought my friend's Triumph.  ..and I love it.

For now, I'm hoping for a big Xmas bonus and some relief from the ex wanting more and more money so I can buy a new carb and get this tug moving down the road.  Little victories.

Want.

I recently was out and about on my little CL350 with a bunch of friends, when one of them had a mishap, and dropped her bike in a parking lot.  No biggie.  It happens to all of us.  However, the clutch lever was completely bent, and when I tried to bend it back so that she could ride home, it snapped right off.  So, I got my truck, hauled it to my garage, and fixed it with a new part.  Easy.  10 minutes.

Anyway, before I handed it back to her, I wanted to test ride it to make sure the clutch lever was just right.  Did I mention that it's a brand new Triumph Bonneville?

I have never ridden a bike newer than 1983.  Ever.  30 years makes a LOT of difference.  Fuel injection, ABS, and SO MUCH MORE POWER!  I've had a few CB750s in my day, and this was only 115ccs more, so you wouldn't think it would make a huge difference.  It does.  I'm in love.

As a matter of fact, after I wrote that last sentence, I grabbed my gear and took it out again on my favorite little test track behind the fairgrounds, a couple blocks away.  I didn't want to push it, since it's not my bike, so I only did 90.  (Don't tell Stevi.)  Probably should have brought a helmet.

(Edit:  I totally lied.  I forgot that I rode my old boss's 883 Sportster.  It was a '96, I think.  Hated it.  Gave me a fucking hemorrhoid.  Fucking shitty Harleys.)

(Double edit: Dude.  It has twin Keihin carbs?  I was so wrong.  How awesome is that?)

I digress.  The point of this whole thing is that modern bikes are SO UGLY.  Triumph (and possibly HD, but I hate them) is the only manufacturer that's figured out that they can modernize their classic models, and people will flock to them like crazy!  Hello, Honda?  How can you not recognize that?

AND, these original, 1970's flat-seat standards are CRAZY popular right now.  I have so many theories about it, including urbanization and reverse white flight, but the point is that for someone like me, who LOVES the vintage style, but is a little tired of having to spend a weekend a month tuning up their bikes.

AND, AND, why isn't there a decent budget option?  $8500 is the STARTING price for a new bike.  That's ridiculous.  A brand new Bonneville in 1967 would be the equivalent of about $4000 today.  I get that it's a lot more bike, so I'd say $6500 would be fair.  But just shy of a tenner?  Damn.  A kid is supposed to be able to save his summer job money and buy one.  Boo.

Genuine Scooters had the answer 10 years ago.  Buy the old molds from a company like Vespa, make a few updates and start re-manufacturing them.  People bought them like wildfire.  Again, hello, Honda?  Manufacture CB-350s, CB750s, 550-4s.  WE FUCKING WANT THEM!  BLAH!

The Bikes of Yesteryear

I got to thinking about how many bikes I've owned over the years, and it's not as many as I wish I could brag about.  10, maybe?  Let's find out:

• 1985 Suzuki 400
• 1981 Honda CB750
• 1983 Honda CB750
• 1974 Honda CB450
• 1973 Honda CL350
• 1971 Honda CL175
• 2003 Genuine Stella
• 2008 Genuine Stella
• 1979 Yamaha XS650
• 1964 Lambretta Li175
• 1981 Vespa 150 (for a week)
• 1967 BSA A50

I'm probably forgetting one somewhere, but it's a pretty good list.  Respectable.  That's twelve, if you count the Vespa.  And I did own a pretty sweet '67 Firebird 400 for a few years, so that's not too shabby.

Most impressive is obviously the BSA, followed by the Lambretta (for sale) and then a tie between the CB450 and the CL350.  Both stock, beautiful shape.

I did get to spend the evening cleaning my garage, which is long overdue, but it's starting to become a good work space again.  And, it's always a struggle to find a balance between working/paying for the house and the bikes.  Bleh.

Brass Accents

Holy hell!  Someone did this Ural pretty damn close to where I'm headed.  I'm going to study it a while:

http://imgur.com/a/C03OL

The Rider Pegs Stay

It's been a while since I checked in with Cliff, the fella I was planning to work on the tank with, and admittedly, it's all my fault.  However, when you leave a high paying job for one with the city, you get gain a lot of satisfaction, but not as much extra cash.  Add that to a pricey divorce, and you're left with a tight budget and no furniture.

So, as I'm waiting to hear how much I owe on taxes, living from paycheck to paycheck at the moment, hoping to afford the new carburettor next week, the one thing I can do is research.  Weirdly, the more I look into the new cafe bikes, the more I see the brat bike making a huge push.

Originally, I intended to make the BSA a single-seat cafe racer, but now that I've been dropped back into the dating pool, I'm going to have to say that I want this bike to be able to carry a cute girl on the back.  That means a 2-seater butt cushion and rider pegs.

What does that mean for the overall design?  Well, I'm going to have to figure out a new solution for the battery box, since it's not going to be hidden in the tail hump anymore.  The old version is a piece of shit that used to hang on the outside of the frame, under the ugly side cover.  Bad design.

I love the original oil tank - very sexy.  However, I'll need another consult with Cliff, because it seems that it might now be necessary to build a custom oil/battery combo unit to keep the bike clean and sexy.  It's a labor of love, and it's going to take as long as necessary.  (I have to keep telling myself that.)

Greasy Ol' Gearheads

 
Mark and I got moving on the motor this week, and it seems that when the weather gets nice, his buddies like to come over to the garage, hang out with their bikes and drink beer.  Then we work on motors for a while, have another beer, tell dirty jokes.  If, in 15 years, I'm having half the fun that these fellas are, than I know I doing something right.

As for the motor, we took it apart and put it back together about 4 or 5 times, getting it set up perfectly.

The rods are in, the pistons are in the bath, and Mark says it should be done by the end of the week, if we work hard and stay on task.  In my opinion, I don't care if it takes another 6 months, if I get to have this much fun, hanging out in a garage, working on bikes with a bunch of grizzly bastards, eating pork rinds and drinking cheap beer.

2/1000ths

So, after all that nonsense with the crank, we figured that it was so out of whack that I was just going to have to break down and get a new one.  The couple hundred bucks that I'd spent on machining this one was just a cost I'd have to eat.  Oh well, shit happens.  Hello, eBay.

Then, on Thursday evening, as I'm enjoying a steak dinner, I get a call from Mark, telling me that his machinist buddy was with him at the shop, having a couple beers and he took a look at my crank, just to show him how boogered up it was.  They decided to mess with it, and sure enough, after 6 months of delays and feet dragging with the damn thing, they had it together with perfect tolerances in no time.  Turns out, it was just shitty machine work from Quinlan.

Awesome.  Best way to round up a great birthday week (and an half).

Cranked Off

After all that work to get the crank machined, and dealing with the colossal assholes at Quinlan, it turns out that my crank is bent, and I'll have to purchase a new one.  Hundreds of dollars down the tube, and we're fairly certain that it was dropped (possibly intentionally) by the assholes at the machine shop...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

After a crummy hiatus, I was finally able to rustle up some time to get back over to Mark's shop and dive back into the motor.  It was great to finally feel back on track, and the awesome BSA parts were all spread out to see.

Now, the bad news.  We apparently overlooked the obvious, and decided to put the crank on the lathe, to see if it was true.  It wasn't.  Basically, that means that all the money and irritation I had to deal with, with the old one is gone forever.  I need a new crank.  Bollocks.

Luckily, a crank from an A50 is the same as one from an A65, and they're in abundance, so it looks like it's time to hit eBay and the swap meets.  Mark's making a few calls, and I'm doing my research, so hopefully, we can get this worked out within the month, but don't hold your breath.

It's the Little Things that Trip You Up.

Dear everybody who's been following this build blog,

I'm a miserable bastard for not keeping up to date, but truly nothing's happened for a few months...  Well, nothing's happened with the bike.  For me, I took a new job as a Creative Director/Designer, then quit after 2 months to take a different job as the Arts Director for the city of Indianapolis. (I felt really bad about dicking the ad agency around, but when the mayor asks you to be the executive arts guy, you say yes.)  I also broke it off with the wife, so I'm losing a big chunk of my immediate build budget, which blows.  Additionally, the focus is to get the motor finished before any other work, and my buddy Mark (engine god) has been swamped with work over the summer, so between the two of us, there has been zero time.

SO, that being the case, we're hopefully looking to get rolling again this month, but who the fuck knows.  I love my job, don't get me wrong, but it's seriously cutting into my fucking-around time.

Until then, I'll just leave you with a pic from the movie "Girl on a Motorcycle":

Glaciers Move at Slow Speeds Too

It's either as hot as the infernal bowels of hell, or raining in biblical proportions these days, so very little riding is getting done (not much garage time either).  On the other hand, it's ideal to make lots of phone calls, emails, and get plenty of research done and design ideas worked out.

For example, I've been toying around with a custom badge for the side cover of the bike, and I think this would look nice:

I thought it looked nice, so I made one for a CB350 for fun:

(The wife says no.  We'll see.)

I also finalized that Amal DOES INDEED make the 626 carb in the premier setup, but I've found most dealers to be complete pains in the ass when it comes to ordering one with my specs.  Apparently, there's basically only 1 or 2 distributors here in the states, and they haven't yet stocked them.  I'll get it eventually, even if I have to order it from the UK...

Additionally, I got in touch with Cliff Meyer, the sheet metal genius behind MeyerBuilt Metalworks, and if all the pieces fall into place, he'll hopefully be building my tank and tail.  Here's some of his work:

It looks like I'll also be getting the headlight from Benjis Cafe, since I want to eliminate the big clunky gear cluster, and do a speedo-in-headlight setup.  That means a tach delete plate, but I'm not planning on red-lining it, so I don't really NEED it.

Lastly, I'm still contemplating how I want to do a painted tank, and this version looks beautiful!

Although, I'm not sure about the 2-tone tail.  I love using the polished aluminum as a design aspect.  OOH!!!

Oh yeah, one last thing, I forgot to mention that I'm thinking very hard about clear anodization of the polished aluminum parts.  Awesome.

Y, Oh Y!!!

I've spent all day compiling research for the bike, and I've come to a realization about "Y" everything has been an uphill battle, as far as parts are concerned.  It has everything to do with the "Y".

Now, this isn't my motor, but is an example of a "Y" bike.  What does that mean?  It means that between 1967 and 1970, the BSA Motorcycle Co. was asleep at the wheel when it came to everything, including the VIN numbers, and even the model years of their bikes.  From what I've gathered:

a) BSA had thousands of 1967 model bikes, and they made updates to them and resold them as 1968, 69, and 70 models, while still retaining the original 1967 paperwork.  Some confusion occurs due to the extra stamping of the "Y" after the VIN on the engine cases.

or

b) The factory fucked up.

or

c)  Who the hell knows?

Bottom line: I'm not the only one with this issue, and I'm 99% certain that my '67 BSA A50 is actually a '69/'70 model that was confusingly titled as a '67... whatever.  What does that mean?

Well, it means that I'll be using the '69/'70 books as parts reference for one.  Other then that, very little is different between the years, so it's not as bad as it could be.  If I were going back to stock, I'd be in bad shape, but I'm not, so it's all good!

Doing Cart-Wheels

One of the toughest things that I've had to deal with is the rear axle.  The DPO (Damn Previous Owner) had rigged some ridiculous replacement axle bolt with some nonsense part and a big crappy stripped nut that wouldn't come off.  The wheel was wobbly, poorly attached and just plain boogered up.  It was something that I had tried to repair during bike build 1.0 in 2004, after putting in new wheel bearings, but never got right.

My dad, when he had the bike in Texas, started to tackle the issue and thankfully was able to track down the right axle part and bought it.  Of course, in true aftermarket style, it didn't fit with the new bearings, and got boxed up.  (Technically called a Fixed Spindle: 68-6121)

Last week, I took the wheel and axle over to Mark's garage, since I wasn't sure if I was supposed to press fit the axle into the bearing or not.  I was not.  He helped me set it up in the lathe, and we shaved a few thousandths off, and lo and behold, fit right in perfectly.  The wheel, including the speedo and everything, went together like a glove in about 10 minutes.

Yes, the rear brakes are fitted perfectly, the axle is straight as an arrow, the wheel is perfectly centered and I'm very happy!  If only the rest of the build would go the easily.

Amal Retentive

Let's talk about the carburetor.  Specifically, which one I'm going to use.

In 1967, the A50 was outfitted with a single Monobloc 376.  While that's a perfectly fine carb, BSA switched to the newer Amal MK.1 Concentric in 1969.  Specifically, the 626, which is what I assume came originally on my bike.  Of course, here's where it gets funky.

My bike (which I'm finding has had more and more half-assed fixes and weird modifications) came with a crappy chromed-out Amal 928.  It's a bigger carb that was used on the A65 Thunderbolt, and it's surprisingly rare, compared to the 930, which can be found everywhere.  Upon examination, it's so warped and boogered up that it's getting ditched for a brand new one, which are luckily still being made.

So, you might think, "Hey, just order the 626 like the factory says and be done with it." Fair enough... BUT, the new 928s are being made to awesome new specs, while the 626s are still being made the old fashioned way.  Is it a big difference?  YES!

The new slides are being made by completely machining them from an all new alloy that prevents the sticking issues with the old style (a big deal).  The fuel tickler (this was pre-choke era) is also redesigned so that it doesn't leak gas everywhere, and the body construction is much cleaner than the old versions.  All in all, it's a much better build that its' predecessor.

I'm no expert at this stuff, and there's a lot of details that have to be done just right, such as the needle jet, the needle position, the main jet, the pilot, ect.  Of course, there's also the option of switching to even newer type of carb, like a Mikuni or a Keihin, and getting features like a choke.  My current thought is to get the 928, but have all the jets set to the 626 specs, but I really don't want to set my new engine on fire.

**EDIT**  Upon further research and good f*cking timing, I've learned that the 626 carb IS INDEED being made to new premier quality now, and I can get one set up with my factory specs from the retailer.  Done deal.  So... basically ignore everything I've just said.